The Rooftop
by 5DancingDorks
Summary: April and Leonardo spend some rare time together. One-shot drabble.


April breathed in the cold air. She had missed this time of year. Every street and building in Manhattan were covered in a thick layer of frost and snow. The half-moon was at its highest point in the sky, though the lights of the city challenged the stars, which seemed to all hide behind the blackness. April tightened the thick yellow scarf around her neck and straightened her dark peacoat before stepping out of her window, bringing her red radio with her.

She threw the radio high to the top of the roof above the window. It landed softly in the snow, making only a slight "crunch" as it hit the whiteness. April bent her knees and, using her newly found abilities, leapt up and grabbed onto the ledge. She pulled herself up and settled on the roof.

The girl grabbed the radio and tuned it to her favorite station. She managed to catch the beginning of a Norah Jones song and, satisfied with the choice, settled it beside her. The guitar and piano played together gently and as the singing began, April relaxed, and stared into the distance.

She had missed this. So much had gone on the past months. Her dad's kidnapping and his return were pretty big, but for some reason it didn't quite compare to befriending a family of mutant ninjas who spend every night fighting aliens from another dimension as well as an army lead by a crazed man in blades. Being brought forth to said aliens' leader and having her "psychic connection to the universe" scanned and analyzed and copied was pretty weird, too. She found herself craving quiet, simple moments like this. April promised herself to never take such things for granted again.

The redhead sighed. New York City was really quite beautiful. A seemingly endless ocean of lights, some still, some constantly moving. The only lights in the sky were of planes or helicopters. People were always moving, always having somewhere to be, never resting, never simply _being_. This was New York: The city that never sleeps.

Just as she closed her eyes, feeling at peace, a familiar voice whispered, "April?" Groaning, the teenager turn and looked down to ladder.

"What do you need, Leo?"

The turtle was bundled up in two layers of thick navy blue hoodies. One of the hoods draped over the black-and-white striped beanie on his head, and his face was buried in the longest and thickest blue scarf April could manage to crochet. His three-fingered hands wore dark mittens, and his thumbs were tucked into the pockets of an oversized pair of jeans that seemed to stay up thanks to some magic, invisible force of nature no scientist could ever possibly explain. His toes, however, were bare. April couldn't imagine how freezing they must be. Leonardo looked up to her. "Normal brotherly arguments back home, so I decided to step outside. Started to get lonely, though." He lifted the rest of his face out of the scarf to show off a polite smile. "Mind if I come up?"

April shrugged. "Sure." If any of the turtles were to be here right now, she was happy it was Leo. As much as she loved the others, she preferred quiet company for this particular moment.

Effortlessly, Leo leapt onto the roof and landed beside the girl. He fell to his knees with a thump and grinned.

"Showoff." April smirked.

The mutant settled down beside her as the song ended and the overly excited voice of the station's DJ discussed current events involving celebrities.

"Why do you people always feel the need to pry into the lives of others? And to such an extent?" Leo asked, genuinely confused.

"Beats me. People will do whatever they need in order to sell. I think we just end up losing sight of the fact that we're all just people trying to get by."

The teenagers looked at one another.

Leo frowned. "…We've been spending too much time with Master Splinter."

They shared in a brief fit of laughter before settling down again. An acoustic song began to hum on the radio, and they relaxed as the guitar and banjos strummed and harmonized, soon joined by a calm but sad voice singing something about love and loss. "Have you and your father settled back in nicely?" The turtle boy asked.

"Oh, yeah." She laughed. "It actually feels really weird to have things back to normal… I say to the mutant turtle." He chuckled in reply. "My dad's been stuck in his office ever since we got back. He has an unbelievable amount of work to catch up on. Those poor mice are going to start to hate that cheese at the end of the maze."

"And what about you? Is school alright?"

The redhead stared blankly at him. "Wow. You're seriously interested in my life. Leo, you're such a flatterer."

"I'm just happy to hear that things are normal again! No Kraang activity, no sign of the Foot… things are actually quiet around here. I'm excited!"

"I feel you, man." April patted him on the shell. "But everything's fine at school. Vernon's an ass, Irma's still boy crazy, the work is ridiculous… All is well in the world." She paused. "You know… We've never had a conversation like this before. It's always about the various threats to our lives or the others. We never just talk about ourselves to one another."

His jaw jutted out the slightest bit and his brow furrowed as he looked down in thought. "That's… true." He looked back up. "We need to do this more often, April."

She grinned. "I can totally get behind that."

Leo scooted closer. "It's a deal then. Buddy."

"Pal."

"Old friend of mine."

The next song played, and they sat on the roof; just the two of them.


End file.
